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The worst job interview I ever had

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Re: The worst job interview I ever had

#451

Post by gspetr »

bee_rider wrote: post #438
gspetr wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand how you jumped to the membership test instead of literally the .find() method on a string? The interviewer is not asking to solve a problem here, they're asking for a simple ability to follow instructions, hence the offer to use Google to find the correct answer. You could make a very solid case for using "in" (it is 2-4x faster), but only after you've solved the task at hand, this is what is expec…

The unfortunate answer is just that I didn’t think of .find before thinking of “in,” haha. Nothing too clever going on in my head. The existence of a more conventional .find method does some damage to my original point. Oops.

No worries. My point is, if you get asked questions that seem simple to the point where you feel they're asking if "water is wet", then you need to keep your own thinking process extremely simple in response.

The reason is the intent behind their question, which they don't vocalize.

This question means we are dealing with an extremely broad hiring funnel designed to fail people who can't FizzBuzz and need to keep answers at MVP level.

In other words, if you are asked to put out a fire use a bucket of sand, not a state-of-the-art fire extinguisher.

Re: The worst job interview I ever had

#452

Post by butlike »

gspetr wrote: post #423
shantnutiwari wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" but the interview engine is already running at full speed:" I dont know if this is a recent thing, but I had a similar thing where an interviewer was racing forward, and would only accept the answers he had in mind. In Python, he asked me how to search for substring. I was thinking but he started hurrying me. So I said regex and started writing a regex. "No, there is an inbuilt method" I couldnt remember the method…

Step 1: https://www.google.com/search?q=list+python+string+methods Step 2: Parse the output with your eyes. The method is literally called "find". This one-trick pony failure mode could perhaps have been fine for a guy who did Java and nothing but Java for 10 years, but you are supposedly the person who runs "pythonforengineers" website... 100% correct call by the interviewer.

So I don't code python. Is it find() or index() or is being terse and rude not really going to add inches to your dick?

Re: The worst job interview I ever had

#453

Post by aaron695 »

MattRogish wrote: post #90

This… was a mistake on both you and the interviewer. All interview questions - unless it’s impossible to twist your answer to fit this - is scoped to “… at work”. Nobody who asks “tell me about yourself” is asking you to talk about how you met your partner, how many cats you have, or that experience you had, that one time, at band camp. It would be redundant and awkward to literally say “… at work” at the end of ever…

[dead]

Re: The worst job interview I ever had

#454

Post by cdud3 »

nsxwolf wrote: post #427
cdud3 wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rejecting the question is actually how you pass. Open with "I leave everything private at home when at work hence my answer for the work position is: [here the answer but scoped and formulated to your work life and NOT to your private life]".

You don't want to pass an interview like that.

Its an effective way to sort out those candidates who are not able to leave private stuff at home.

Re: The worst job interview I ever had

#455

Post by ericyd »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #405
ljm wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a really weird power-trip interview once, and it was the CEO who was joined by a contractor who was ostensibly the technical lead for the project. There was nobody in engineering who worked full-time on the job, everybody was contracted. I was also going in as a contractor so I was aware that the interview would be a bit lighter on process as a result. The questioning very quickly veered away from technical stu…

> I lasted about 6 months and even trying to leave was an ordeal. Like finding your next gig or just not showing up ever again? Because I've worked at a place where someone came in, went to lunch, and they never saw them ever again.

I've heard stories like this and always wonder, at what point do you file a missing person's report?

Re: The worst job interview I ever had

#456

Post by gspetr »

butlike wrote: post #452
gspetr wrote: post #423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Step 1: https://www.google.com/search?q=list+python+string+methods Step 2: Parse the output with your eyes. The method is literally called "find". This one-trick pony failure mode could perhaps have been fine for a guy who did Java and nothing but Java for 10 years, but you are supposedly the person who runs "pythonforengineers" website... 100% correct call by the interviewer.

So I don't code python. Is it find() or index() or is being terse and rude not really going to add inches to your dick?

You're thinking of a perfect world. We're not in it.

In this one there are often thousands of applicants for a position, most of which can't pass FizzBuzz.

Why would they (or anyone for that matter) choose a candidate who can't figure out how to find info about a trivial method?

Re: The worst job interview I ever had

#457

Post by dpark »

mkoryak wrote: post #361

Back when I was younger and interviewing candidates for a startup where I was one of the oldest engineers my favorite "fit" question used to be "tell me your favorite 4 letter word". I never actually based my decision on that one, only the technical questions. This is an example of where I (probably) contributed to making some people feel uncomfortable and I wouldn't do it now.

> tell me your favorite 4 letter word

Stop

Re: The worst job interview I ever had

#458

Post by dieselgate »

SenHeng wrote: post #418
pan69 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had something similar years ago. I applied for a job at a company, size around 150 people. Did two rounds of interviews which were great. They wanted me to offer the role. However, as a third round, I was going to do a meet and greet with the CEO and he was going to yay or nay me. At point I dropped out. If a CEO can't trust his delegate managers to hire the people they see fit for a role, then thanks but no thanks…

My friend has been contracting at $STARTUP for a couple of years now with a revolving 2 month contract. His managers have not attempted to hide the fact they would likely end his contract once they've managed to hire a full timer into the team. Sadly, their CEO has veto-ed every single full time hire they've tried to bring on for past 2 years now.

I never understand this dynamic, why not hire the friend after like 6 months of contract or whatever?

Re: The worst job interview I ever had

#459

Post by giancarlostoro »

ericyd wrote: post #455
giancarlostoro wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I lasted about 6 months and even trying to leave was an ordeal. Like finding your next gig or just not showing up ever again? Because I've worked at a place where someone came in, went to lunch, and they never saw them ever again.

I've heard stories like this and always wonder, at what point do you file a missing person's report?

I do wonder that as well, thing is this was a place where people often rage quit or were fired for ridiculous things.

Re: The worst job interview I ever had

#460

Post by chaosharmonic »

victorbojica wrote: post #150
MattRogish wrote: post #90

This… was a mistake on both you and the interviewer. All interview questions - unless it’s impossible to twist your answer to fit this - is scoped to “… at work”. Nobody who asks “tell me about yourself” is asking you to talk about how you met your partner, how many cats you have, or that experience you had, that one time, at band camp. It would be redundant and awkward to literally say “… at work” at the end of ever…

I was also part of this sort of interview once. They specifically asked personal questions - parents stuff, relationship, etc. Definitely not work related. It was indeed a very strange and exhausting experience. I could've definetly refused to answer some of the questions or drop out of the interview altogether, but not sure why I haven't. So yeah, this type of interview exists so I highly doubt the interviewer inter…

I once had an interviewer ask me, several years back, about the religious affiliations of my college.

It's supposed to mean "at work," but that doesn't at all mean that you can assume the interviewer is going to understand that.

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